Bournemouth vs Burnley. Premier League.
Vitality StadiumAttendance10,446.
Report and highlights as Ashley Westwood and Chris Wood also strike
Saturday 6 April 2019 19:12, UK
Ashley Barnes scored at both ends as Burnley's 3-1 comeback win at Bournemouth moved them eight points clear of the bottom three.
Barnes headed past his own goalkeeper Tom Heaton for the opener inside four minutes under pressure from Nathan Ake, but once Chris Wood had levelled from close range after a mistake from Asmir Begovic, the visitors never looked back.
Ashley Westwood smashed in a second from Chris Mepham's poor clearance within two minutes of the equaliser, and 11 minutes after half-time Barnes went from zero to hero when he finished off following another Begovic error.
Burnley's second win in seven days moves them up to 14th - only two points behind their hosts - although three of the teams below the Clarets have games in hand on them.
Despite poor recent form, Bournemouth had lost just one of their last 18 home games against teams starting the day below them in the Premier League, and even that defeat had been against Manchester United.
They looked like using that run to their advantage early on, starting brightly and finding themselves ahead with just three minutes on the clock. Ryan Fraser's free-kick was nodded on by Jefferson Lerma, and after Ake got ahead of Barnes, he tried in vain to divert the ball away from the Bournemouth man but only turned it inside the near post from six yards.
Bournemouth continued their bright start but were stunned as Wood levelled out of nowhere, with Begovic firmly to blame after flapping at a corner which allowed the New Zealander a simple finish at the far post.
Just 139 seconds later, Burnley had turned the match on its head. This time poor defending from Mepham gifted them an opportunity, when he scuffed the direct and increasingly impressive Dwight McNeil's low cross straight to Westwood, who hammered home from the edge of the area to complete the turnaround.
Burnley then took full control of the half from then on, without threatening to add to their advantage, and the strength of Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe's anger with his side's performance became apparent when he hauled off Nathaniel Clyne for Diego Rico at the break.
That did little to turn the tide back in the hosts' favour, though. Within 30 seconds of the restart Burnley could have been further ahead following a simple long ball and one-two between Wood and Barnes, but the latter's shot arrowed just wide after deflecting off Ake.
He would soon have better luck from more woeful home defending. With Bournemouth's players protesting that Charlie Taylor had taken the ball out of play, the defender played on.
His cross, spilled by Begovic, was turned back for Barnes who plundered a third, becoming the second Premier League player this season to score at both ends in the same game.
Still, a Bournemouth response was not forthcoming. Ben Mee came close to putting Burnley further ahead but his bullet header from a corner landed just wide, and more link-up between Wood and Barnes ended with the latter firing wide again.
Not until the third minute of stoppage time did Bournemouth create their first clear chance of the second half, and the manner of Callum Wilson's wayward volley over the bar rather summed up their afternoon's work.
Eddie Howe: "There were lots of elements of our performances which weren't great. There were some good bits, we missed some gilt edged chances, on another day if you put them together you think we might have got something from the game but the goals we conceded were very difficult to take.
"I don't think motivation is the problem. We pride ourselves on our professionalism and ability to never give up, but today it didn't really look like that. We're struggling with ourselves, we're on a difficult run, confidence is low, but the season isn't over we've got a lot to go."
Sean Dyche: "It'd be up there, the mentality of wining games is difficult anyway, but coming from one down to win with control is very pleasing.
"We put in a very good performance here last season and won 2-1, and we brought that mentality into this game too.
"You could look at when we had 12 points from 19 games and saying that run up to Christmas defined our season, but we've turned that mentality around, a very healthy return of 24 points since then."
Barnes did well to pick himself up from his fourth-minute disappointment not only to grab a goal, but also come close to a couple more, only to be denied by slightly wayward finishing and unfortunate deflections.
The 29-year-old is into double figures in the top flight for the first time in his career, and will be unlucky if he does not add to that tally in the final five games of the season if he continues in this form.
Dwight McNeil's exploits on the left wing deserve an honourable mention too, and the 19-year-old continues to look an exciting prospect. He put in several dangerous crosses throughout the afternoon, won 40 per cent of his 10 duels and was directly responsible for Nathaniel Clyne's withdrawal at the interval.
Bournemouth travel to Brighton next Saturday at 3pm, while Burnley face a massive test in the relegation dogfight as they host Cardiff at the same time.
